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Bustling through the physics of crowds

COMIC: Using tools from fields like fluid dynamics to better understand how groups of people move around can improve flow and make large gatherings safer

Severe irritability in children and teens: A new understanding

Kids with disruptive mood dysregulation disorder have explosive outbursts well past toddler age. Scientists are trying to work out the causes and what treatments help.

Night of the zombie insects

A parasitic fungus takes over the brains of flies and controls them for its own sinister ends. Here’s the science behind the horror.

When ribosomes go rogue

Unusual variations in the cellular protein factory can skew development, help cancer spread and more. But ribosome variety may also play biological roles, scientists say.

How a child becomes bilingual — and what can be done to help them get there

Kids from immigrant backgrounds in the US often struggle to develop fluency in two languages. Many factors — parental misconceptions, the lack of support in schools and social attitudes — play a role.

Why a diabetes drug fell short of anticancer hopes

Population and animal studies suggested it could treat cancer, but the clinical trials were a bust. Here’s what happened and what potential may remain.

Sustainable building effort reaches new heights with wooden skyscrapers

Wood engineered for strength and safety offers architects an alternative to carbon-intensive steel and concrete

Are you my baby? The clever ways that brood parasites trick other birds

Cuckoos, cowbirds and other species outsource their parental duties. Scientists are uncovering new twists in this sneaky — and often treacherous — game of survival.

We are family: Tracing the evolution of animals

To understand the origins of multicelled life, researchers are studying a motley assortment of simpler animal relatives. The commonalities they’re unearthing offer a trove of clues about our mutual past.

Hummingbirds thrive on an extreme lifestyle. Here’s how.

Soldiering through nightly suspended animation, a (nearly) all-sugar diet, backwards flight and long migrations, the birds’ tiny physiques prove mighty

Multimedia

Your cells are dying. All the time.

Some go gently into the night. Others die less prettily in freak accidents or deadly invasions, or after a showy display.

Targeting the racial disparity in kidney disease

Some people of West African descent face a higher risk of renal failure. New drugs based on gene research may help right the ship — if they can reach everyone who needs them.

Can you believe the polls? It depends

A veteran of survey research explains why high-quality polling matters — and warns of the proliferation of shoddy gimmicks

What if a virus could reverse antibiotic resistance?

In promising experiments, phage therapy forces bacteria into a no-win dilemma that lowers their defenses against drugs they’d evolved to withstand

What’s that smell — and how’d you know?

It’s clear that genes, receptors and neurons all play a role in detecting odors. But much of how we make sense of what we sniff remains mysterious. A neuroscientist explains.

The tussle over cigarette warning labels, and the hazy future of vaping

Regulatory hurdles, industry objections and legal fights have gone on for decades over traditional tobacco. What’s in store for the next generation of smoking?

Divided we stand: The rise of political animosity

Scientists peered into the partisan abyss. Here’s what they found.

The phageome: A hidden kingdom within your gut

Human innards are teeming with viruses that infect bacteria. What are they up to?

What a bioluminescent petunia had to teach me

I bought a glowing plant. It led me down a rabbit hole of radiant mushrooms, 19th century experiments and a modern rivalry between scientists in Russia and the Americas.

Saturn’s moon Mimas may hide a surprisingly young ocean

The existence of another watery world in the outer solar system may offer clues to how such seas form — and hope for another spot to search for life

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